Objects in the Rear View Mirror
by seirios aster
Summary: [Rewrite] Is this world the only world? Is there another world where there is a chance for redeption? Or is redemption impossible?
1. Volunteers

_This story is a rewrite of something I wrote a couple years ago. It does have OCs, but I will certainly attempt to keep them under control and paired with each other (I'm a canon junkie for the most part---the only noncanon pairing of FFVII I really approve of is Tifa/Rufus, which probably will not appear in this fic.) If you still want to read this, I sincerely hope you enjoy it. The main characters are as close to in character as I can make them, possibly with the exception of Sephiroth. We're not quite sure what he was like sane, so I figure there's a little room to develop his character, complete with the standard fare of antisocialness and sarcasm. That said, please give this a shot and tell me how I can improve both my writing and characterization._

_Oh, and please excuse the lame sci-fi jokes. I couldn't help myself.  
_

* * *

  
Sephiroth was standing inside his apartment in Midgar, watching the rain outside. He sighed and turned back to the girl that was unconscious on his couch. She had collapsed in the middle of the street when he had been walking home from work. The General hadn't felt particularly benevolent, but it would be wrong to have left her passed out in the middle of a street in the pouring rain. He rationalized his actions by arguing that Reno was out and about. However, Sephiroth eventually admitted to himself that he was just acting kindly. 

Sephiroth really hated his job. He was stuck in his old job, in his old office, on the same floor of the same building, but this place was some alternate reality. Things were too different to just be a fluctuation in the time-space continuum (he had heard horror stories from a former colleague). The last thing he remembered was Strife killing him, but Sephiroth had heard that the young man felt guilty about it. Sephiroth had never understood that kid and doubted that he ever would. Regardless, after he had died, Sephiroth was transported into this strange new world and found that anyone he had known that was dead was alive here. Later, Sephiroth had found out that he had come into the alternate reality about a month after the Nibelhiem incident, which had occurred quite differently. He had not really cared what had happened to his doppelganger. But his curiosity got the better of him, so he did some digging and found out that there was no record of the outcome of the mission. According to the incomplete records at Shinra, Inc., the operation had gone completely as planned with no problems whatsoever. Now it was five years since he had arrived in the parallel reality. He mused that his counterpart should appear soon with an intent to destroy the world. Sephiroth, however, wasn't going to fill those shoes. Not under any circumstances whatsoever. He was sane again and wanted to stay that way.

The girl laying on the couch, Sephiroth noted, looked quite a bit like Strife, but not enough to say that they could have been related. He shuddered in remembrance of what Zack used to tease him about. Sephiroth wondered whatever did happen to him. After all, he hadn't seen Zack in the real world after Nibelhiem, and he had yet to see said friend in this place. Anyway, the girl was wearing a Shinra uniform, so Sephiroth figured by the way she had passed out and the uniform that she had been recruited by Hojo to participate in whatever twisted experiment the mad scientist was concocting this time. Thinking about Hojo reminded Sephiroth that he wished he had almost anyone else for a father instead of that maniac. Sometimes he seriously wondered what his mother was on when she chose Hojo, of all people. Sephiroth continued his musings and realized that maybe he should consider assassinating President Shinra in this timeline. At least Rufus knew how to maximize profit and minimize expenditures without killing people. Rufus was a good businessman and knew exactly what he was doing. A definite plus was that Rufus did not have much patience with idiocy and had a very low tolerance of corruption. And if Sephiroth was really feeling lucky, there was always the chance that Rufus would fire Hojo if he made the request.

The girl on the couch groaned and sat up. She realized she wasn't laying on the sidewalk somewhere outside. Strangely enough, she began to panic. Rather bizarre behavior, Sephiroth decided. The girl, who had in all likelihood thoroughly soaked Sephiroth's couch because of her sopping wet clothes, exclaimed, "Where am I?!"

From behind her, Sephiroth answered irritatedly: "My apartment." Seriously. How much trouble was it to put together that since she was not outside, she must be inside. His quarters were spartan, but they definitely looked like a living space.

The girl whirled around and gasped. "G-general Sephiroth?!" She looked to be in shock, especially since she did not seem to notice that she was drenched in rain and looked, at least in Sephiroth's opinion, like a lost wet puppy. Not that he would ever say that. Or that he liked puppies.

He prayed that this young woman was not one of his stalkers. In any case, he ventured a response, hoping that she did not start any sort of deep conversation with him. "Yes," Sephiroth said hesitantly. "What is it?"

She backed towards the door, as if she was afraid of him. While that was not necessarily the most desired response, Sephiroth was fine with it as long as it meant she would leave quickly. "How did I get here?" she demanded.

"I brought you here because you passed out in the middle of the street outside." Sephiroth replied as nonchalantly as he could, quietly waiting in order to judge her reaction. The girl looked surprised as to his response and glared at him with glowing hazel eyes. It was strange. Her eyes were a undistinguished green-brown color, but she still reminded him of Strife. It was probably the glare, Sephiroth decided, but he wondered why this girl had had Mako treatments. She certainly would not have made it into SOLDIER in his world. Strife, with all of his faults, would have made it into the program sooner than her.

"Well, thanks for not leaving me in the street," she said rushedly and even a little sarcastically, "but I have to go now or I'll be late for---" She stopped, hiding something. Sephiroth decided not to press it. It was not his business in the first place. The girl shook her head as if to clear it. "I have to go," she declared.

"Leave then. I don't really care," Sephiroth replied acidly. Finally! She was leaving, but he still did wonder what she could be hiding. Then a possibility jumped into his head. AVALANCHE would be destroying one of the Mako Reactors later in the night. That information meant she was potentially a member of AVALANCHE, which made perfect sense. After all, the girl reminded him of Strife, and he had yet to run into his archnemesis' analog in this world or timeline. Whatever it was. Sephiroth had long ceased to try and figure out exactly what was going on.

The young lady backed up into the door and opened it. She was now dripping all over the carpet. Sephiroth retrained himself from making a face. Now he would have to clean that up as well. "I'm leaving now," she declared as she stepped outside the door. Once she was completely out of the door, she slammed it shut. The noise slightly irritated the One-Winged Angel. As Sephiroth had watched her leave, he had wondered if he should alert anyone in Shinra about what was about to happen. He quickly decided not to. It would only be a pain in the ass to talk to some operator or, if he was extremely unlucky, Scarlet. She would never shut up about her stupid Sister Ray. Sephiroth shook his head. He was starting to get a headache. He cast Aero and Fire on the air above his couch, effectively drying it. Choosing the path of least resistance, Sephiroth turned on the television, having decided to just sit on the now-dry couch and watch a movie.

Now the difficult choice: _Animal House_ or _Revenge of the Nerds_? Decisions, decisions.

* * *

Clara rushed over to the train station. Oh, was everyone going to kill her! Not only was she was late, again, but she had just had a particularly strange encounter with Sephiroth, of all people. She searched desperately for her friends around the station to no avail. She was hyperventilating and about to have a breakdown when her old friend Tyler walked over over to her with a wry look on his face, even if it was evident that he had been distracted by thoughts of what could have happened to her in the time from when he had last seen her. "Clara, where the heck have you been?" he asked. "I was worried!" 

"Uh, sorry 'bout that!" she replied nervously, staring at the ground. Why was Tyler still here? She knew that they should have left a while ago, glancing up at the clock near the station. "Did I screw everything up?" she asked him, feeling guilty about her tardiness.

Tyler blinked and, sensing her uneasiness, responded reassuringly, "No. We're catching the next train, but I've been looking for you for almost an hour! Where were you? Do you have any idea how nervous you were making me?"

"I passed out for a while after I did some reconnaissance," Clara admitted, absentmindedly pulling at the lower hem of the uniform shirt she was wearing. "I really want to change out of this, though. I feel extremely uncomfortable in it," she informed him. Tyler stared at her pointedly, knowing she was hiding something. "And one of the Turks hit on me," she lied, trying to divert his attention away from what she was concealing.

"What?" Tyler exclaimed, incredibly apprehensive and stunned. "You passed out?" he repeated disbelievingly. He did not like where this train of thought was going. "Where did this happen? In the Shinra building?" he guessed.

Clara laughed nervously, trying to think of a convenient cover to smooth over her admissions. "Oh, no, of course not," she replied, stalling for time. She came to the conclusion that she had to tell the truth. "Look, it was nothing, Ty," she prefaced, trying to calm him down a little. She said the next phrase quickly: "I fell unconscious in the street."

By then, the rest of AVALANCHE had arrived. "You passed out in the middle of the street?" Jesse, one of the guys, asked skeptically. He was of middle height, with brown hair and unremarkable blue-green eyes. The man had a penchant for being snide, although he did seem to have at least a small interest in Clara since he was half as sarcastic with her than with everyone else, who had definitely noticed the difference, even if Clara did not.

"Well," Clara began, unsure of what to say next. She really did not want to give anything else away. Her gaze traveled back to Tyler. She gave him a pleading look, but the brown-haired young man said nothing. Some help he was.

"That's hardly becoming of a SOLDIER," said Barrette, the leader of the terrorist group called AVALANCHE. She was a tall and imposing woman at six-foot. The gun that took the place of her lost arm worked with that to make her very hard to talk to occasionally.

"Ex-SOLDIER," Wedge reminded her. Clara noticed he seemed sort of bored, like he had gone through this all before. He also looked like he hadn't slept all that well. She knew he and his friend with the dark blond hair had all sorts of part time jobs, but Clara still had trouble believing that whatever it was they did took that much out of either of them. After all, there were only twenty-four hours in a day, and it really was not like they were fighting some sort of guerilla war in their free time.

"He's right, you know," Wedge's friend said. "You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover or, necessarily, a person by their relatives. It's just plain stupid," he added and smiled warmly at Clara. "She's on our side now, not Shinra's," the blond continued, a tad embarrassed he had not said that right off the bat. Wedge had half a mind to glare at him for almost forgetting to say that. He could tell by his friend's nervous tick.

"Anyway," Tyler interrupted, trying to ignore the most recent addition to the long list of strange things that the two other freedom fighters tended to say. "We should get going," the young man pointed out, gesturing toward the train. It was about to leave the station.

"You have a point," Jesse said, agreeing with Tyler for the first time in a blue moon. "But where are Stupid and Pickpocket?" he asked. "Weren't they supposed to come?" The two he referred to were actually off on other business, but Tyler was not about to say that in front of Clara. She was a mercenary, after all, and Barrette did not trust her that much.

"They're both on vacation, remember?" Wedge said bitterly, acting his part, although the sentiment towards vacations was deserved. He never could understand how it was that he never was given vacations or significant shore leave. One of his other jobs paid well, but he could not go back for various reasons (Terra would kill him). Another job was more irritating than his primary job, and vacations were nonexistent (Dark Lords were infinitely preferable to Sorceresses). He did have a rather nice job as a semiprofessional athlete, but it did not pay too well (It was not his fault the Lady Summoner and her cousin were abysmal at sports). In any case, he found himself wondering why he was still standing next to the train station in the middle of Sector Seven in Midgar. Maybe he should just go home. After all, at least the blond standing next to him could convince their superiors to raise their wages just a little. Even if it failed, the Princess would definitely help.

"Earth to Wedge!" Barrette said, starting to become irritated at the frequency at which Wedge tended to daydream. "You're lost in space again!" she exclaimed, irritated with his space-cadetishness. The blond hid a grin with his hand as Wedge groaned and murmured something to the effect of "I wish I was!"

Clara glanced up at the clock again and remarked upon the time. "The train's going to leave," she pointed out to the rest of the group. The blond smiled, and Wedge looked ready to shoot something, which did fit the scenario, although he was jumping the gun a little.

"Time to go!" Barrette announced, and they all boarded the train to get to Mako Reactor No. 1. The train ride was uneventful. The most interesting thing that occurred was that Clara learned that Wedge's blond friend was named Luke. The rest of the ride was spent on idle chatter. Jesse attempted to explain the map and train system to Clara, but she decided that it just would have been easier to have a paper copy of the map on one of the walls of the car. The trip took about half an hour, but when they arrived at the reactor, they disembarked speedily. Jesse deactivated the perimeter security system of the Reactor before deciphered the codes to the inner doors. Wedge and Luke stayed behind as sentries, even though they immediately started talking about some science-fiction spacecraft as soon as the others were out of sight. Clara found it amusing since they had forgotten to wait until she and the others were out of hearing range. She followed Jesse deeper into the power plant, and they eventually arrived at the control room. Jesse fell back to a position closer to the exit as Clara entered the room. Tyler and Barrette were waiting for her in the center of the chamber. Barrette immediately handed Clara the charges. "You plant them," she said, wanting to gain some sort of measure of Clara's devotion to the cause. That, and because Barrette believed that the mercenary probably was better with explosives than she was. The girl had apparently been in SOLDIER, after all.

Clara nodded amicably and took the explosive device. "This'll only take a minute," she informed them as she walked over to the control panel of the reactor. It took some time for her to set the charges for the maximum detonation zone with the lowest number of civilian casualties. As for the timer on the bomb, she informed her comrades, "We only have fifteen minut---" Clara was cut off as a klaxon started blaring.

"Dammit!" Barrette cursed. "The alarm went off!" she exclaimed and turned to Tyler. "What safeguard do you think that we tripped? We cannot get caught in the act next time!"

Tyler's eyes widened as he turned around. He was only half listening to what Barrette had been saying. "That's not what we should be worrying about," he sensibly mentioned and pointed to the Guard Scorpion that had shown up behind them.

"Shit!" Barrette exclaimed, shooting at it with her gun arm to little effect. The robot had surprisingly thick armor. The shells in the gun generally were a little better at piercing armor.

"Maybe we should try running," Tyler suggested as he rummaged through his item pack. Where had he misplaced his materia? He could not take out this metal monstrosity with just his bare hands and a pair of boxing gloves.

Clara shook her head and reminded her friend that "The hallway is the only way out." The young woman cast Bolt on the machine, causing it to short circuit. Seeing the monster malfunction, the three of them hit the thing with everything they had. Tyler even used an attack-based item he had been saving. Clara checked her watch for the time and reported as calmly as she could pull off, "We only have ten minutes left."

"Shit!" Barrette repeated while they were running towards the exit of the room. "This is all your fault!" she shouted at the ex-SOLDIER.

"No time for tossing the blame!" Tyler exclaimed hurriedly. Jesse, who had obviously heard the alarm, was not at his post when the three ran past it. The three met up with him at Wedge and Luke's post. Jesse hacked into the security system once again and opened the doors. By the time they were a safe distance from the reactor, there were only two minutes left until the explosion.

"We should split up," Barrette decided. "That way, if any of us are caught we can say we don't know the whereabouts of anyone else. We'll meet at the train station," she commanded them. Everyone acknowledged the decision and split up. As Clara ran through the square somewhat close to an access road, the Reactor exploded. She turned to look at the display, but when she began to walk away yet again, Clara ran straight into one of her old friends from her army days, before they all quit. The young man was a few inches taller than her with reddish-brown hair and piercing green eyes. He had not changed much at all, but she did notice that he was wearing his glasses for once. "What's the rush?" Alan asked, before recognizing his old friend. He grinned. "Clara! Long time no see! What are you doing here?" he asked her, genuinely happy to see her.

Clara felt ill. She really could not lie to him. He was one of the few people that could call her bluff. "Nothing in particular," she replied, deciding to go with understatement as a way to lead him away from the truth. "Judging by that explosion a minute ago, I think the Mako Reactor might've blown up," she said, wondering what Alan's reaction would be.

"Hm." He looked particularly pensive, but he shook his head and asked her, "Hey, have you seen a woman around here that looks like me?" Alan was looking around anxiously. "I'm really worried," he said to Clara, who was somewhat confused as to the sudden subject change. "She said she would be here!" he exclaimed, half to himself.

"Sorry, Alan, I haven't seen anyone like that," Clara apologized. She glanced in the direction she had come, wondering how much longer she could dawdle with Alan. It was probably best that she leave as soon as possible, but Clara almost felt honor bound to find whomever her friend was looking for. After a moment, her gaze focused on the road she had come to the square by. Shinra MPs were coming. "I gotta go," she said quickly before running off. "I'll come by sometime!" she shouted back at her friend.

"That was strange," Alan said to himself. Clara was never that nervous. He saw the military policemen, and it suddenly clicked. The reactor. Clara's uneasiness. Her haste in leaving. Alan silently wondered what Clara had gotten herself into this time. The MPs came up to him. "Have you seen anyone out of the ordinary come past here?" the commanding officer asked seriously. The others stood menacingly in the background.

"No. I haven't," Alan replied succinctly. He could not afford to be noticed all that much by Shinra employees. The officer thanked him for his time and walked over to the next closest bystander, who had missed the entire conversation between Alan and Clara. Looking in the direction Clara had left, Alan stood in place, thinking, before deciding to follow his old friend. Once he had rounded the corner and was out of sight of the Shinra employees, he sprinted to catch up with Clara. It took him a while, but he caught her.

"Alan! Why are you here? You're gonna get caught, too!" Clara exclaimed. She turned pale as a sheet as she realized what she had just said. "Wait, let me explain!"

"You helped blow up the reactor?" Alan asked seriously, unsure of how to take the news. Clara was a good person, to be sure, and she had to know what she had done, but did she really understand what the consequences of her actions could be?

Clara blushed, suddenly ashamed. "So what if I did?" she asked him, partially distraught. She saw the MPs coming around the bend from the corner of her eye. "It doesn't matter now! We're surrounded!" she said quietly once she realized that there were MPs coming from the three directions they could have. The fourth side of the area was a bridge overlooking the railway. Clara looked over the edge, calculating how much it would hurt and what her probability of success was if she jumped off the bridge in order to catch the train.

Alan thought for a moment. He glanced as subtly as possible at the police. "There are alternatives to fighting, Clara. We can just claim to be bystanders. They wouldn't expect someone like you to have been involved in the explosion," he pointed out rationally.

Clara looked at him like he was crazy and whispered, "Are you insane? They might suspect you!" She looked at him pleadingly as the MPs moved closer. Alan grinned and took her hand. "Trust me," he said quietly. They began to walk towards the train station, but they were stopped by the MPs. "Is there a problem, officer?" Alan asked as Clara stood next to him, praying desperately that they would not get caught.

The MP stared at Alan curiously. "Possibly. Do you know anything about that explosion from a couple of minutes ago?" the man demanded.

Alan looked like he was thinking hard. "No, I can't say I do," he replied with an apologetic shrug. "I was looking for my girlfriend here, and I guess I just missed it." Clara looked at Alan, somewhat scandalized by what her friend had said. However, Alan's gambit worked, and the MP let them through, amused by Clara's reaction. The two boarded the train with no trouble whatsoever. After passing through a number of cars, Clara and Alan finally reached the car with the rest of AVALANCHE in it.

"Oh God, who's this?" Barrette demanded surprisedly. She looked Alan over, thoroughly unimpressed with the man. "Is he one of your friends from SOLDIER or just some bystander who got caught up in the action?" she asked Clara irritatedly.

"I'm both," Alan replied for himself. "But, trust me, I have no love for Shinra at all," he informed the group seriously. "I actually have a personal vendetta against the head of the science department," Alan admitted. Clara refrained from commenting. She knew it was a sore subject with the young man.

"Um, sorry again for being late," Clara apologized to Barrette, trying to smooth things over. She glanced over at Tyler, who was looking at Alan somewhat disapprovingly, but for what reason, Clara could not understand. It did not matter, for Tyler suddenly grinned and put his arm around Clara's shoulder. "Ah, doesn't matter. You're okay, and that's all that really counts," he told her cheerfully, glancing pointedly at Alan.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt," Wedge said, looking at his watch, "but Luke and I have to go to work." He shrugged. "I'm sorry, but we really do need to go."

"Don't you have any free time?" Jesse asked, yet again frustrated by how Wedge barely showed any support for the group. "Could you at least put in a little bit more time?"

"Well, we're going to get fired if we don't show up for duty in five minutes," Wedge commented quite seriously. Luke looked at him questioningly, then decided to just go with it. Better to let Wedge make the call and have him explain it later.

Luke shrugged and said, "He's right. We do have to get going. The lieutenant commander will be rather angry if we do not get back on time," he admitted. "However, I don't think the commander will really care either way."

Wedge ignored the comment his friend made and said, "See you later." The two then got off at the next stop. The rest of the group continued on for another fifteen minutes. After they disembarked the train, they went to the Seventh Heaven, the bar the Tyler ran. Clara was still slightly confused as to how a nineteen-year-old was allowed to run a bar while he could not legally drink. When entered the main room, Barrette almost went spastic on Yuffie, who was completely drunk and being giggled at by Marlene. "Why are you drinking in front of Marlene?" Barrette demanded, livid at the young ninja.

Yuffie thought about it for a minute. "Because the liquor cabinet was open!" she exclaimed happily. Marlene pointed at Yuffie and laughed. Yuffie didn't notice and promptly passed out, slamming her head onto the bar counter. At that moment, Zack chose to enter. "Hey, everyone! What's up?" he asked cheerfully, not spotting Clara or Alan.

Tyler sighed, slightly afraid of what his imagination came up with for what the other man had been doing to occupy his time. "Where've you been?" he asked tiredly.

Zack looked at him like he was from another planet. "I had a vacation, remember?" Zack reminded Tyler, who occasionally seemed, at least to Zack, like he had the memory of a stoned goldfish with LSD flashbacks.

"It was a forced vacation," Jesse murmured under his breath. Alan tried not to grin but failed to do so and started to laugh as quietly as he could.

Zack noticed, however, and turned around. He got a grin on his face after seeing who it was. "Alan! What are you doing here?" Zack asked. It was not every day they ran into each other, Zack had to admit. "What have you been doing recently?"

Alan shrugged and tried to come up with a decent explanation. "Well, I ran into Clara after that Mako Reactor was destroyed about an hour ago, and I've been with them ever since then," he answered, leaving out what he had guessed about the Clara and the group.

Zack nodded amicably but caught a glance of the clock. He grimaced and said to Alan, "Wasn't your curfew ten minutes ago?" He gestured at the clock.

Alan glanced at the object. "Oh, darnit," he murmured, shaking his head. This was the third time this week! "Mom's gonna be so angry I stayed out again," he mentioned. He closed his eyes and calmed himself. Turning to Tyler, he asked, "Do you have a phone?"

Tyler sighed. How old was this guy, exactly? Seriously. He still listened to his mother? Granted, Tyler could not really say anything since he still talked with his parents every so often, but he was nineteen for God's sake! He made his own decisions. "Phone's on the back wall," Tyler informed the brown-haired man. No sooner than had he said that, Alan was at the phone, calling home.

Zack sat down backwards on one of the chairs nearby, amused by Alan and Tyler's behavior. How this progressed was going to be interesting, especially since Clara was very oblivious sometimes. "So, speaking of the reactor thing," Zack said, calling attention to a new and somewhat pressing subject. "How'd it go? Any casualties?"

"No," Barrette said, trying to keep from cussing around Marlene and trying to contain her anger. "Wedge and that friend of his ran off to that mysterious job of theirs again. They really need to be devoted to the rebellion and all, you know?" She sighed in exasperation.

Zack smiled, having known the specifics of that job for a very long time. The phrasing was rather ironic, too. He reassured Barrette, "They're probably very loyal to one rebellion or another. Just because they complain about that job doesn't mean they don't love it."

Barrette did not completely believe him, but she accepted the explanation nonetheless. "Aside from that, it was a successful operation," she said.

"Good to know," Zack replied, grinning. He thought for a minute. So this little rebellion of theirs was finally taking off. It had seriously taken long enough, but then again, what they were doing did take time and planning. "When and where's the next hit?" Zack asked.

"Tomorrow," Barrette informed him. If he was so interested about the mission why had he not come in the first place? Sometimes---nay, all the time Zack made very little sense to Barrette. "Jesse noticed that there was a change in the security system on the trains, so there'll be some complications with getting to the Reactor and escaping."

Jesse nodded at what Barrette had said and drawled nonchalantly, "We're gonna need some fake IDs to be able to get past all of the checkpoints they've added." He shrugged and grinned. "It's not that much work, so don't worry about it."

"That checkpoint stuff is nothing compared to some of the stuff Seph and I did in the Wutai War," Zack reminisced. "God, were those crazy times," he added with a smile on his face, obviously thinking about times when they had time to spare to do other things.

Clara shuddered. She sometimes would rather have not remembered all of the insane situations she had been pulled into. "Please don't remind me," she entreated, already recalling a particular adventure involving some duct tape, war paint, and _Braveheart_.

Alan, holding the phone away from him, added, "No one wants to be reminded!" Apparently he had no urge to remember any of that idiocy either.

Jesse, who had since gone downstairs and watched some of the news reports, calmly walked over. "Guess what Shinra's saying about the destruction of the reactor?" he asked, obviously bearing some bad news, even if he had said that with his usual sarcasm.

Barrette stared at him. Did Shinra figure out who they were? Did they miss some of the video cameras? What about the audio recording system? "What?" she asked sharply. Barrette's patience was running a little thin on Jesse's cockiness.

"Just badmouthing us, you know," Jesse told her casually. "The usual, mostly. We're terribly people and must be brought to justice. You know, that stuff." He shrugged and said, "President Shinra's trying to smooth it over with the populace. Yet again."

Clara yawned and rested her head on the table she was sitting at. Sometimes listening to all of the politics was very tiring. Something in the Reactor had made her feel off somehow. She could not pin exactly what was wrong, but there was something in the back of her mind. She rested her eyes, continuing to think about why she felt like that, but sleep claimed Clara just after a few moments.

"Maybe we should get some sleep if we're going to destroy another Reactor tomorrow?" Zack suggested, having noticed the girl, sitting at the table, fast asleep. He actually felt like getting some shuteye, too. "I mean, really. It's not smart to wire a bomb on two hours of sleep. Even our absent friends wouldn't try it." He paused and revised what he had said. "Frequently."

Barrette nodded, agreeing with Zack, who she thought looked half-ready to fall asleep standing. But then, maybe he should not have pulled that all-nighter the day before. "That is a good idea," she said and paused. "Do you know where the others are?"

Zack thought about it and answered, "Well, the space cadet says he's not coming because he wants to stay on Shinra's good side just in case they want to revive the space program, and our friend the vampire's only mode of transportation happens to be riding around with said space cadet, so neither are planning to show up. But, knowing him, they will both be here in a few days."

Barrette nodded, absorbing the information, and said, "That's good." She turned to Jesse and Tyler and said, "You two might as well go to bed, too. We'll wake up at five to start the checklists for the bomb." The two nodded went their separate ways.

Grinning, Zack replied, "Yup. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go pass out now." Following Clara's example, Zack fell asleep at the table mere minutes later. Barrette shook her head, muttering to herself about incompetent, former Shinra employees. She picked an asleep Marlene up and took her up to her room.

When Alan finally hung up the phone, he turned around and to see that those still left in the room were asleep. He smiled and shook his head. He glanced at the sleeping Clara, wondering what all of this would lead to. He laughed quietly. It would not necessarily be good, that was for sure. Taking a deep breath, he walked out of the tavern into the night air.

* * *

Cloud was standing next to the lake where he had buried Aeris. It had been a year since that day, and Cloud had left on the spur of the moment to come here. To his knowledge, no one knew where he was. He knew he could not do this. He could not bear making the others feel pain because of him. But to just leave everyone behind like this, to take the easy, selfish way out? Maybe that would hurt them more. But it did not change the fact that he could not stand the pain anymore. "Why didn't I die?" he murmured into the still air. The water was just as still as the air. "Why didn't I push Aeris out of the way?" he continued quietly, his knees giving out. He sank onto the ground, unable to take his eyes off of the lake. Why was he incapable of moving on? Cloud shut his eyes. He would not cry. He told himself he would not cry. "Is this what I get for trying to save the world?" Cloud demanded from nobody and nothing yet everyone and everything. He laughed bitterly, if only to keep from sobbing. "I guess this punishment, this pain (Oh, God, _why won't it stop_), is befitting for a traitor," he said injuredly. Almost unconsciously, Cloud wiped some of those supposedly nonexistent tears off his face. It just showed how little control he really did have. And he was supposed to be this hero? He finally broke down. "Oh, Aeris, what have I done?" he cried softly. "What have I done?" 

It took a long time for Cloud to calm himself down. And they say (_absence makes the heart grow fonder..._) time heals all wounds. He slowly stood, still not quite trusting his body to let him stay on his feet. "I should get going. Tifa's probably flipping out right about now," he murmured with a sad smile on his face. Yes, Tifa was probably fretting up a storm, pacing back and forth in the bar, occasionally calling Barret and Vincent and Cid to check to see if they had seen him. "I'll come back again next year, Aeris, and I'll try. I'll really try. I swear it," Cloud promised her, willing himself to smile, and walked away. He still could not bring himself to say goodbye.

* * *

Aeris woke up with a start. She looked at the clock next to her bed and saw that it was the middle of the night. A week had passed since she started having this recurring nightmare. It was getting worse. It just would not stop getting worse. Aeris kept trying to convince herself that Cloud would never do anything like that. He would not kill himself. He just would not. Not in a million years. And poison? No, even if he did do something so completely, utterly stupid like _that_ he would not use poison. Purposefully making a mistake in a battle that was as good as won or even stabbing himself, but he would not take such an easy route. It was completely unlike him. More unlike him. Cloud would not have done that. Aeris half-remembered a line: 'O, happy dagger, let this be thy sheath. There rust, and let me die.' She curled up under the covers, trying to dispel the line and the dream. 

Aeris wondered how much had changed back in the real world, the land of the living. She knew she was not in what she would strictly call the afterlife, even though Sephiroth was here too, and she had to be in some alternate universe. Too many things were the same, and enough was different. Zack, who she had been amazed to see, had told her that Sephiroth had finally come to terms with everything. She had been disinclined to believe him, except for that she saw him on the news a day or so later, acting completely like he had before, even if he did seem to hate Hojo with even more of a vengeance. The fact that both of the SOLDIERs also possessed memories from what she considered her real world left her a little disturbed. Did that mean that this place was their second chance to make everything right? Or was this some cosmic joke played on them for the amusement of the powers that be? Or was their existence here more of a limbo from which they might get out and get back into their real world?

Aeris and Zack had started dating again, mostly because they were so surprised to see each other and someone else from home. But, they had broken up a while back for various reasons. The least of which was not because she realized that she was still in love with Cloud. How she had managed to pull that off was beyond her. Strangely enough, Zack was completely understanding, which on one level just served to confuse Aeris even more. She was happy that they had both come to the same decision separately and were still very good friends, but Aeris had trouble understanding why Zack would just step out of the way. Then again, he may have just been of the opinion that it was wrong to take advantage of a rival's absence. To Aeris, that made quite a bit more sense.

As far as she knew about the status of life, the world, and everything in this dimension, Vincent still the exact same person, even though he was still alive in the normal timestream, unlike herself, Sephiroth, and Zack (obviously). Quite frankly, she found it slightly disturbing that Vincent could be in both worlds simultaneously, although it did account for why he was so quiet all the time. She had never seen any of the others aside from Zack and made it a point of avoiding the analogs of everyone from AVALANCHE. Aeris didn't want to know the equivalent of any of her friends. It would be too painful. Especially if she met Cloud's. She missed him enough and didn't need someone constantly reminding her of him.

She turned over in bed to face the wall. On the other side of it was her (_analog_) brother's room. He had come home late tonight and had woken her up to talk about what had happened. From him, she had learned that AVALANCHE had destroyed the first Mako Reactor. When Alan was telling her about how he had seen his friend Clara, a memory resurfaced; it was that particular memory of when Aeris had, by chance, met Cloud on that night so long ago. Aeris almost started crying. Cloud would not try to kill himself. It was just a dream. Aeris repeated the words aloud softly before falling back to sleep.


	2. Purple Haze

_Be warned: Lame sci-fi jokes continue._

* * *

Clara woke up at eight o'clock the next morning. She stood up and looked around, noticing Tyler was asleep behind the bar in the sleeping bar he kept there. A smiled curled Clara's lips, but it quickly turned into a grimace when another one of her headaches hit. She winced in pain and sank back into her chair. The Mako in her system was acting up again; it had only been a matter of time. Clara cursed herself for not recognizing the signs. She had passed out in the middle of the street, and she had had the strangest dream the night before. She did not remember the particulars of the dream, but she thought it was quite strange. She was in a first person frame of reference, but was effectively a silent observer seeing what was occurring through another person's eyes. The landscape was of a lake in a beautiful forest, although she felt overwhelming sadness and guilt throughout the dream. Clara could not completely remember what the dream person had been saying, just that he (at least she had thought it was a he) was in an incredible depression and was talking to some woman who was not with him there. Regardless of the content of the dream, if that dream wasn't a sign of some Mako disorder, what was? 

"You okay, Clara?" Zack asked, walking into the room with a cup of coffee. He was wearing the same clothes as he had the night before. She could tell because they were all rumpled. Zack looked particularly cheerful that morning.

Clara turned to look at Zack and smiled reassuringly. "Yeah," she told him. "I'm perfectly fine." She sure did not feel fine, but there was no way she was going to tell him that of her own free will. If she said anything, Zack would not rest until he got all of the details from her, from the run in with Sephiroth to the surreal and depressing dream.

"I don't believe you," Zack said, in a happy tone, and sipped his coffee. He sat down at the table next to Clara. She was more likely to spill if she knew he was not going anywhere. Zack knew she hated any situation that could be considered awkward.

"Hey, I'm not depressed or anything!" Clara said in rebuttal, matching his tone. She laughed at herself for saying that so cheerfully. Zack grinned, too. "Don't worry!" Clara said, wondering just a little why it seemed to her that Zack was more than a little worried about her. Quite frankly, there were these moments where it seemed that way. It was like he was half afraid that she would disappear any moment, and it scared Clara that he felt like that.

Zack gestured towards Tyler with his coffee cup. "You think we should wake him?" he asked her conspiratorially. The moment had passed; he was back to normal.

Clara grinned. "Nah. All of us need as much sleep as we can," she decided. Tyler had looked like he needed it. "But, if he starts snoring," she said, "I'll wake him up myself."

Zack smiled and took a sip of his coffee. He could not help but think that Clara was exactly like _he_ was before... everything. Zack sighed.A lot could ruin a person, he supposed. "What do you think Shinra will do after this next operation?" he asked the girl, a grin plastered on his face once more. She did not seem to notice his lapse.

Clara shrugged and replied nonchalantly, "I dunno. He'll probably do something drastic like hunting us down and having us all publicly executed." She rolled her eyes.

Chuckling, Zack shook his head. "And you don't think that's something to say lightly?" he asked her disbelievingly. Clara could pull off dry humor, but Zack still thought that Sephiroth held the Grand Mastership in that particular ability.

"Well, there are worse things that can happen," Clara said hesitantly, remembering her dream. She still could not get over how strange the nightmare was. It had seemed so _real_, too. Like she was actually there. It was cold in that place, wherever it was. Clara paused in her thinking and realized she was in desperate need of a caffeine fix. She had almost started to fall asleep again. Maybe the Mako was still acting up in her system. Certainly explained the dizziness. Clara gestured to the coffee. "Where can I get some?"

Zack put on a very stoical expression before pretending to concentrate. "I got mine at the Starbucks halfway across the city," he decided after much thought.

"Zack, you cannot be serious," Clara said in a no-nonsense tone.

"Of course I'm not," Zack replied good-naturedly. Gesturing towards the pinball machine, he told her, "Take the elevator down. Wedge made the coffee after he got back this morning, but don't mention getting paid to Barrette. Not only will she flip, but Wedge will glare at you." He chuckled a little at Wedge's current disposition.

Clara winced. There was only one explanation for an angry or disgruntled Wedge. "He got a pay deduction, didn't he?" she guessed.

Zack nodded, then explained in a mock-dramatic voice, "Apparently, it's a 'dark time for the rebellion.' Therefore, the fighter pilots got a pay cut." He shrugged and added, "I guess it's just the way of things." He paused and grinned before continuing mysteriously, "The way of the dark side of the war effort."

Clara laughed at Zack's antics and excused herself from the table to go get a cup of coffee. She went downstairs via the elevator and saw that Jesse was working on some gadget having to do with avoiding recognition on the train ride today. Wedge was glowering in a corner, drinking coffee, and another one of his friends was glaring at him from the other side of the room, eating an unsavory-looking military ration with writing in some foreign language on it. This friend was rather dour-looking. Clara wondered why Wedge had brought another of his friends for today's operation instead of Luke. Barrette was watching the television intently, absorbing everything President Shinra was saying and then yelling at the TV about how everything that he said was a lie. Clara, who for the most part ignored Barrette for the moment, walked over to the coffee machine and poured herself a cup. The drink smelled excellent, and she picked up a pop-tart before turning around and turning her attention the television. The news was on.

"When General Sephiroth was asked what his comments on the reactor being destroyed," the news reporter began, "he replied that he 'wasn't aware anything had happened,' and that he had been 'too busy watching _Animal House_ to give a damn.' President Shinra, what do you think of the General's conduct in this matter?"

On the screen next to the reporter, Shinra put on a semblance of thinking about the question. President Shinra began to speak: "The General is---"

"Hypersensitive about his free time and doesn't like to be 'bothered by idiots,'" Zack finished. He had followed Clara downstairs after a moment. Sometimes he wondered why President Shinra even allowed the media around Sephiroth, the walking PR disaster.

"But you would think he'd say something a little less worse for public relations?" Barrette mentioned, shaking her head. The Shinra Company made so little sense. They were not only destroying the planet, but the Executive Board seemed to have the combined IQ of hash browns, with a couple people excluded.

Zack laughed derisively and answered frankly, "Hell, no! He hates Shinra almost as much as we do!" If any of them knew what had really happened to Sephiroth, they would probably have doubled their efforts at taking down that company.

"Then why doesn't he join us?" Clara asked Zack, curious as to why Sephiroth still worked for Shinra if he did hate the company so much.

"Because that wouldn't be a good use of his talents," Zack replied. This was a little more complicated to explain. "Don't you know that the only people you can actually count on to get their work done in that place are Seph, the Turks, Reeve, Scarlet, and Rufus?" Not that any of them really could agree on anything for a long enough period of time in order to outvote the useless people. Zack really wondered how they had all worked together for so long without forming at least some sort of coalition.

Clara was about to answer, but paused. "What _does_ Reeve do?" she asked.

"I dunno," Zack said in return, shrugging. "But all I know is that he actually gets his work done," he continued. Zack had the feeling that it had something to do with the Urban Planning department; although why there would still be a department like that he did not know. Probably the useless part of the Executive Board had not figured that out yet.

"Wait, didn't you say that you used to work with Sephiroth?" Jesse said, remembering the conversation the night before. He was rather suspicious, and this was the perfect opportunity to find out some useful information.

"Yeah," Zack answered honestly. "Seph has always been like that. He used to threaten to kill me at least once a week. Those were good times," Zack reminisced, grinning and remembering all of their misadventures. Zack would generally drag an unwilling participant (_'an unwilling participant?' no, say his name!_) into his wacky plots, and Seph invariably had threatened to kill Zack a lot more during a mission than any other time, but those were the things that made that time all the more important. Zack's grin faded. That was a different world. A different time. It was a much different time.

He knew that Seph was not the one that belonged in this world. To anyone, that much was obvious. The Sephiroth that belonged here had gone missing, Zack remembered, right after the Nibelheim incident. Obviously, no one knew or could remember the difference, but Zack did. He had been here too long not to. There had been something that made the two _really, really _different from each analog, besides the fact that the Sephiroth's analog in this world had not gone crazy and had worked with Alan and Clara. Zack had the sneaking suspicion that the analog had cast some sort of memory spell or something to keep everyone thinking that Sephiroth was the analog. Everything had fit too perfectly from Nibelheim to now, but Zack did not dare voice any of this to anyone. Who could he talk to about it, other than Aeris, without sounding truly mad?

"Regardless," Clara said, breaking the silence that had followed Zack's comment, "we should get ready for the attack on the reactor. There's definitely going to be a lot more security all around." The others in the room nodded in agreement. Jesse went back to work on the fake ID cards as Barrette went back to dissecting the news broadcast.

At that moment, Tyler wandered downstairs wearing only his boxers and a t-shirt and took all of the remaining coffee. "When are we leaving...?" he asked sleepily. Wedge stared at him with an ever-suffering look on his face. Had he not just gone through this once already? That said, this incident was much less bizarre than Janson wandering around the hangar. Thank heavens that Luke had said he would deal with the paperwork.

"When you get your pants on," Barrette replied, dead serious. Did that boy seriously have to act like this every single morning? She sometimes regretted letting him stay around, but she always was glad she had kept him when they fighting Shinra.

Tyler looked down at his attire. Sleepily, he said, "I thought something was weird..." and continued to drink the coffee he had appropriated.

Clara could not help blushing a deep red. She could stand many things, but her childhood friend walking around in his underwear was not one of them. "Tyler! Get dressed, God dammit!" she implored him, trying not to stare at him.

"You're up, Clara...?" Tyler said in a voice even more dazed than it previously had been. He seemed to consider where he was and what he was doing. Wedge's friend rolled his eyes at the situation. Janson was infinitely better at pulling that act off.

"Please get dressed!" Clara pleaded after turning around, her face still deep crimson. The action made Tyler decide that it was probably better if he wandered back up stairs and got dressed. What was wrong with her anyhow?

"This day just gets better and better!" Zack decided happily as he made another pot of coffee. This time he would use that nice brew from Mideel.

Wedge was starting to understand why Sephiroth had gone insane.

* * *

"Cloud! You shouldn't be up!" Tifa scolded. She sighed in exasperation. How he had caught this malady, she did not know, but she felt it had something to do with that jaunt he had taken to who knows where with that golden chocobo of his. They were standing outside Tifa's bar, and Cloud was prepping his motorcycle so he could go to work. 

"Leave me alone, Tifa. I'm perfectly fine," Cloud replied softly, face flushed with a fever. "I'm well enough to work..." he said, having trouble putting his gloves on. It was so cold out, he thought. Looking at Tifa, he wondered why she did not feel the temperature. Maybe she was right and maybe he was sick. No, he had to go to work.

"No, you aren't!" Tifa exclaimed. "You could barely walk down the stairs!" She knew he could recover from practically anything quickly, but he wasn't going anywhere until she was sure he was better. He could not even put his gloves on properly. There was no way he could drive that motorcycle. He was being irresponsible.

"I could, too, and we both know we need the money," he said, looking straight at her. The glow in his eyes was duller than normal, like they always got when he was sick or injured. However, the hurt look in his eyes was still easily detected.

"But, Cloud---" Tifa protested. Why could he not see reason?

"I'm fine!" he shouted at her, more harshly than he had intended. His breath hitched when he realized exactly what he had said. He shut his eyes. He felt slightly better---at least the world had stopped spinning. He opened his eyes again. Tifa looked upset. Cloud felt badly (_why did he hurt everyone he cared about_) and ripped his gaze away from her, concentrating on the ground. His chest hurt, he was swaying on his feet, but he had to go.

"Cloud..." Tifa looked away and stayed silent for a moment. "You're not feeling well, I can tell, but, no matter how much we need the money, you shouldn't be working if you can't even see straight!" She turned to stare at him and continued, "You could get yourself killed!"

Cloud was about to retort, but he stopped and apologized. "I'm sorry, Tifa, but if I miss another day of work I'll get fired," he reminded her pleadingly, hoping she could not tell how terrible he was feeling. "You remember how angry my boss was with me the last time I called in sick!"

"I'll call it in, then!" Tifa stated. She hoped that he would at least acquiesce to that. "You are in no condition to drive, much less actually work today!" She could barely stand it. Why did he feel this need to beat himself up so badly all the time? It hurt her so much to see him in this shape. If he had only stayed in town, then he would not have gotten ill. Cloud's recklessness continually caused him to get in jams like this.

Knowing Tifa was right and that she would argue with him till he agreed, Cloud nodded and turned his motorcycle off. They both went back inside. Tifa idly wondered if Cloud knew how much he was leaning on her. "You want me to go back upstairs?" he asked. He hoped she would make him stay at home for the rest of the week. If she ran interference, then maybe he could keep his job and finally recover from this disease.

"Yes. I'll be up in a bit with some chicken soup and 7-up," Tifa replied from the kitchen.

"Okay..." Cloud trudged up the stairs, leaning heavily on the wall. He went immediately into his room and shut the door. He felt worn out just from walking up the stairs. Tifa had definitely been correct: he couldn't have worked today. But, this was the first steady job he had had since forever, and now he was going to be fired. His boss thought he had been malingering most of the days he had called in sick, even though Cloud really had been ill. He had been warned the last time that if he called in sick another time this month, his boss wouldn't think twice about firing him on the spot.

Cloud let out a deep, shuddering sigh. He didn't want to think. Sleeping suddenly felt like a very good idea. He changed back into his pajamas and went back to bed. Almost instantly, Cloud fell asleep.

Tifa knocked softly on Cloud's bedroom door. She didn't receive an answer, so she opened the door quietly and saw that he was fast asleep. "I told you so," she whispered. Tifa walked over to the nightstand beside his bed and set down the soup. She realized that he really did need break from it all. Not just work, but maybe reality itself as well. Smiling, she brushed some hair out of his eyes. He was curled up in bed, sleeping peacefully despite whatever was wrong with him. Cloud was still the shy, kind, and warmhearted boy she had known for what seemed like forever, no matter what tragedies happened in his life. "Sweet dreams..." Tifa kissed him on the cheek and walked out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind her.

When she was back downstairs, she immediately called the doctor.

* * *

Sephiroth was at his nice corner office in the Shinra building in the middle of Midgar. Why he was stuck being a paper pusher was beyond him. Groaning, he read the most recent memo from Hojo. The crazy scientist wanted his participation in some new experiment. Sephiroth was going to have to find some way to say no to it without it sounding like an obvious death threat. Then again, maybe he should play along with it. He could try to spare whatever poor soul was going to be experimented on. Maybe Hojo had been able to catch whoever was the equivalent to Aeris in this reality. A thought then hit him. What if Aeris was in this reality, too? That presented a plethora of possibilities, most of them not good. One of his least favorites included her whacking him with that metal pole of hers, shouting curses at him for everything he had done. Of course another included her making those infuriatingly snide backhanded remarks she seemed to be master of. 

There was a knock on the door. "General Sephiroth?" said a voice on the other side.

"Enter," Sephiroth said, not even bothering, really, to look up.

A scientist from weapons development entered. "My superior wanted me to deliver this note to you," he reported. The scientist handed the note over to Sephiroth.

The General turned the note over in his hands. "I don't remember being contacted by anyone in Weapons R&D..." He looked up, but the scientist was gone. "Strange," he murmured, opening the envelope. There was a handwritten letter inside. The only reason Sephiroth could decipher it was because he had years of practice reading Hojo's "writing."

"_Dear Sir or Madam,_

_Hello. I just felt like telling you the following: yes, I actually do exist; and no, the last thing on my mind is trying to destroy the world. Unlike a certain person I know of. No, I am not talking about the creature from the black lagoon known as Hojo. I speak of you._

_Well, the purpose of this letter is that I wanted to ask you if you knew whom else from your world (the base timeline) is here, and, more importantly, if you know if the one you fought against is here. If he is, some difficulties may arise... but, if the opposite is true, bad things will happen anyway, so why the hell am I writing this? Maybe I should just toss it in the scrap heap... Why am I still writing? Why are you still reading? Stop, dammit! Oh shit, I cast the spell on everyone... Crap... Hey! It's silent! Too bad Stop never worked on Zack. That was a darn shame sometimes. Nice talking to you, anyway._"

Sephiroth stared dumbly at the letter. His doppelganger was definitely as crazy as he was, if not crazier. Then again, it could be one of those clones of his playing another trick on him. Or, if he dare thought it, Zack. Of course, if it had been Zack, the doofus would have barged into Sephiroth's office by now with a big grin on his face and said "Hey, Seph. What's new? I haven't seen you in forever!" Shortly following that would be a pointless conversation, followed by Zack trying to get Sephiroth to go find a girlfriend. Before returning to work, the One-Winged Angel decided it was more of a blessing in disguise that he had not run into Zack yet.

* * *

Alan grumbled as he worked in the flower garden his older sister Aeris kept in the old, abandoned church in Sector 5. She had made him come today because she hadn't slept well the night before. Alan silently wondered if it had to do with his sister's new boyfriend. She rarely talked about the young man, but she had mentioned him this morning. Alan had noticed that their stepmother had paused with this strange look on her face when Aeris had spoken about her boyfriend. 

It didn't really matter, though. Alan was more concerned with getting the weeding done in the flower patch as quickly as possible. He wanted to go back to Sector 7 and find Clara. He hadn't seen her in years! What a strange twist of fate that he'd see her again in this dreary city! Maybe he'd ask her out on a date or something. But how could accomplish that? Alan shook his head. She would not want to go out with him. He decided that she going out with him was as likely as her falling out of the sky and into his arms the next time he saw her. He sighed and continued weeding, daydreaming about what would never be.

* * *

In her room, Aeris stared at the ceiling. No matter how hard she tried, she just could not get to sleep. If she were right, Alan would be bringing home a bodyguard (_he doesn't need one_), who Elmyra would ask to leave during the night without Alan knowing. She resolved to pretend to be sick so that she would not have to meet whoever came. Aeris did not want to fall asleep, but she did anyway, silently hoping that she would not be visited by the nightmares. A few hours later, Aeris was awakened by Alan making some racket. She rubbed her eyes. "What's going on?" she asked, still half-asleep. 

"Um," Alan said, looking down at the floor where had half made a temporary bed, and hid his pillow behind his back. Oh how he hoped that his sister did not mind.

"Why are you in my room?" Aeris asked. "And why are you hiding a pillow behind you?" Her head was still a little foggy, so she couldn't remember why she shouldn't have been surprised.

"Well, you see," Alan started nervously, playing with the hem on the pillow's case. He was praying that she did not mind. "I---well, I sort of had to bring someone home."

Aeris remembered why she had planned to feigned illness, but she realized that she had to continue to act as she had been. In any case, she did not particularly like it when her brother came home from late-night romps and woke her up. "And you are in my room because?" she asked him sleepily.

"Well, she, my friend, is in my room, and it'd be sorta weird if..." Alan trailed off, leaving the rest of the sentence unsaid. He wished that his sister would be understanding.

Aeris nodded amiably. "Just try not to make so much noise next time," she said, yawning. She thought about going back to sleep but decided to get details out of her brother. He had awoken her, so she figured he should at least tell her what had happened. "So," Aeris started innocently, "What's this girl like?"

Alan stopped what he was doing and turned to his sister, a little shocked and more than slightly embarrassed. "It's my friend that I was talking to you last night about!" he said, defending himself as he went back to making the bed on the floor. "Geez, you say it like she's my girlfriend," he murmured, not really intending for Aeris to hear.

Aeris got a thoughtful look on her face and essayed, "That is because it is somewhat obvious that you like her." Aeris hid a smile as her brother turned bright red. She continued sagely, saying, "It is not like you can hide these things from me."

"She's not my girlfriend," Alan grumbled as a pathetic come back. Why was she insistent upon being so gossipy tonight? Could she not leave him alone tonight? He would tell her everything in the morning. Well, he had the intention of telling her. If something happened, and he did not get the chance, it was hardly his fault, was it not?

"So, how did you run into her today?" Aeris asked, determined to get the full story and nothing short of it. She was determined to find out exactly what was going on. Maybe she could keep what happened to her from happening to him. After all, Jenova was still out there, waiting for someone to awaken her.

Alan rolled his eyes. There was no getting out of this, he knew. "I was doing that weeding you said you were too tired to do. You're obviously all better," Alan said, staring pointedly at his sister. He wondered for a moment why she had wanted him to go there, but he quickly decided that he was better off not knowing. After all, it was not like she could see the future. He resumed his tale, "So while I was weeding, she fell right onto me, through the ceiling from who knows where."

Aeris nodded understandingly and asked, straight-faced, "Did you ask her out?"

Alan turned an even deeper red, but he wasn't about to let his sister win. "No, I did not," he denied, which was true, although he had had the intention to do so. Nevertheless, why was it that whenever a talked to him, all his sister thought about was dating? "I was about to talk to her about certain things when the Turks showed up," he continued with the narrative. "They were apparently after you again, but they still have the orders to go after me and, strangely enough, Clara, too."

"Really?" Aeris asked, puzzled. This circumstance was very different, but Aeris would bet anything that the Hojo here was not an analog and that he was the real Hojo. No two people in the entire universe could be so completely disturbed. She wondered in passing who dealt the final blow to the unesteemed professor back home. She hoped it had been someone who was taking their revenge for whatever Hojo had done to them. Dramatic irony was always so nice in those situations.

"Yes. Apparently she has been in some contact with the demented scientist of doom, because once Reno, who was kind of confused, said they were after both of us, she completely froze up. I had to forcibly drag her out the back way. Clara finally got hold of herself by the time we were out of the church, but I thought she would have been in shock for a while longer," Alan reported, settling into the makeshift bed he had prepared on the floor of Aeris's room. "Can I tell you the rest in the morning? It's late, and I'm really tired."

"Sure," Aeris replied thoughtfully a couple moments later. She noticed that her brother had fallen asleep even before she had answered. He was sometimes annoying, but Aeris decided that it was mostly because they were so much alike. She really did care about him. But these strange new developments... Aeris was not sure what to think. She eventually fell asleep, reminiscing about when she asked a certain young man to be her knight in shining armor.


End file.
